InGreek myth,dragon's teeth (Greek:ὀδόντες (τοῦ) δράκοντος,odontes (tou) drakontos) feature prominently in the legends of thePhoenician princeCadmus and inJason's quest for theGolden Fleece. In each case, thedragons are present and breathe fire. Their teeth, once planted, would grow into fully armed warriors.
Cadmus, the bringer of literacy and civilization, killed the sacred dragon that guarded the spring ofAres. According to theBibliotheca,Athena gave Cadmus half of the dragon's teeth, advising him to sow them. When he did, fierce armed men, known as Spartoi (Ancient Greek: Σπαρτοί, literal translation: "sown [men]", from σπείρω,speírō, "to sow"), sprang up from the furrows. Cadmus threw a stone among them, because he feared them, and they, thinking that the stone had been thrown by one of the others, fought each other until only five of them remained —Echion (future father ofPentheus),Udaeus,Chthonius,Hyperenor andPelorus. These five helped Cadmus to found the city of Thebes, but Cadmus was forced to be a slave to Ares for eight years to atone for killing the dragon. At the end of the year, he was givenHarmonia, the daughter ofAphrodite and Ares, to be his wife.[1]
However,Hellanicus writes that only five Spartoi sprang up, omitting the battle between them. In his version,Zeus had to intervene to save Cadmus from the anger of Ares, who wished to kill him.[2][3]Echion later marriedAgave, the daughter of Cadmus, and their son Pentheus succeeded Cadmus as king. According to one source, all the descendants of the Spartoi had a dragon-like mark in their body. KingCreon used it to recognize his grandsonMaeon, who had been raised in secret without his knowledge.[4]
Similarly, Jason was challenged by KingAeëtes ofColchis to sow dragon's teeth from Athena in order to obtain theGolden Fleece.Medea, Aeëtes' daughter, advised Jason to throw a stone between the warriors that sprang from the earth. The warriors started fighting and killing each other, leaving no survivor but Jason.
The classical legends of Cadmus and Jason have given rise to the phrase "to sow dragon's teeth". This is used as ametaphor to refer to doing something that has the effect of fomenting disputes. In Swedish, the myth is the source of theidiom "draksådd" (dragon-seed) with the meaning of spreading corrupting ideas, or in the broader sense, actions with dire consequences.
Additionally to this phrase, "to the Spartoi, Jason is bad" is another saying that finds its roots from the mythology of the dragon's teeth.[citation needed] Meaning that the creation may see the actions of its creator as detrimental to its own, even though it was begotten by it. This saying stands in contrast to a similar saying about theamphisbaena andPerseus.
John Milton references the myth in hisAreopagitica:[5]
"For books are not absolutely dead things, but ...do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those fabulous Dragon's teeth; and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men"
